Spiritual care perspectives of Danish registered nurses.

A Gadamerian hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was selected to explicate the essence of spiritual care with six registered nurses working within hospital settings. Findings revealed that deep knowing of the patient was essential before registered nurses would engage in spiritual care. Furthermore, spirituality was understood as a private matter, with chaplains being seen as the most appropriate providers of such care. These findings suggest that within the culture of Danish nursing, a mandate to incorporate spiritual care into everyday nursing practice may be somewhat problematic.